A personal space...

Yes, a personal space, a space of our own... As space in time and moment that we want for ourselves alone... A space that we want to be independence of anyone else....A moment in time that we want to jealously guard as our own and we have the right to have one...The special personal space in time.... As I journey on in life and getting there in my golden age...I yearn to have that personal space more and more and slowly and surely I am getting there....It is not that easy and I believe with perseverance and patience I would eventually get there...It does not mean that I want to be alone all the time...It is not that...I love to be with my loves one but that sometime I do really need my own personal space....A time that I could dreams, whilst away in the clouds, contemplate, flirt in my mind and wonder of all the possibilities, to be able to spend time with friends on my own and on my own choice, without being subject to other people reaction...I want to be able to do my things my way...The way I like it,during that special space in time..From the time we are born, we have been subject to live with others and subject to be living in a common space in time, we are subject to rules and regulation that are made for us and that us not being involve in the making it...We are program to believe in certain value and norms and we are expected to go on believing in it whether we like it or not...In a way we are subjected to live and conform with the values and norms of our parents and our own culture...If not we would not be allow to live comfortably in the society...Personally I think this is wrong...We are human with individual brain and such we should be our own self always...Of course with should conformed with the society rule and regulation as far as civil society is concerned but at the same time we should be allowed to live our own life as we like... When I was living in the States some years ago...I found that I am more free to live as I like although I am a foreigner...I believe this should be the way forward...Making everyone happy and able to contribute constructively to the country and the world at large...We would not have all the new inventions and all the new discoveries if we are not allow to think and venture on, on the belief that there are better place and things in the future... Had it not been for that freedom of thinking, we would not be able to communicate like we do now...i.e. the internet. All the new happening and inventions did not just happen...I believe it is because we were allow that personal space in time, to think and to take that risk and venture on...That makes our world a better place to live and enjoy life....In another front, if we want to makes our marriages life successful and achieve all those dreams together, we have to respect each other, especially in the aspect of giving each other that freedom of having a personal space in time, from time to time...It is only with the understanding that we are all individual and have the need of that personal space...That make life so wonderful...And like I often said...It would be colorful as well....My friends that is life....Have fund and enjoy.... I blog this from my Malacca's home...

From Mata Mata to Polis...

The local newspaper reports of anger from Malaysian of what just happen New Straits Times.. Well it is to be expected.... I hope the Police would put things right quickly so that things would get to normal again... As a person that saw the transformation of a humble policing unit that was formed during the colonial era by the British...I do appreciate all the good work that our policemen and women have been doing all these while...First it was just know as Mata Mata [translate into English it means Eye Eye]...It is supposed to be the Ears and Eyes of the colonial master... So at that time the society were not that friendly with the Mata Mata but as the country develop the Mata Mata was change to just Polis in the national language...It soon transformed itself into a people friendly institution and with that the society at large soon appreciate what the Polis were doing for them...But like any institution the society soon took the existence of this very important institution as just always been there, to create the peaceful atmosphere that we all took for granted now.... We all should realized that the Polis is a very important institution of our society for without them I doubt we would really have the peace in the country like now....The police in this country have play many roles in bringing peace to this country...It was the Polis Hutan [Police Field Force] that together with the Army that fought the communist terrorist insurgents in the forties until the early sixties...Many good men and women were lost in these fight and after independence they continue to play a very important role in keeping the peace in this multi cultural country, for without them I do not think we would be able to walk the street in peace like we do now...In any institution especially with hundred of thousand members, there surely be some black sheep or bad apples...But we all should not forget that are more good policemen and women doing their jobs diligently then the few bad one...So in these time of finger pointing, where the few have tarnished the good reputation of the police...I believe we all should continue to support our Police and not to be distracted with some of the bad moment in the history of this great institution of ours.... The Royal Malaysian Police or the PDRM [Polis Diraja Malaysia]....To all the good people that makes the PDRM do proceed on and let me assure you all that we really appreciate what you are doing in trying to keep the peace and harmony in this country...Personally I thanks those hard working cops that sweats in the sun just so that we may be able to drive with pleasure on our streets and roads and to all the other cops whether in uniform or plain clothes that are out there keeping the peace for us all....We Malaysian should not forget that it is because of the good work of our policemen and women that we all could go to sleep every night with peace and not to worry upon waking up, thus managed to go on making a living to support our families and love one days in and days out in peace....So to all the Policemen and Women, Terima Kasih [Thank You ]...

Changing of the guard...

Well today we saw the changing of the guard in Germany, one of the largest economy in Europe...This time a lady took over the leadership of this country that had for a long time been in the hand of the male of our species...... She is the conservative leader Angela Merkel [BBC news], who was today elected as the new Chancellor of Germany, the first lady to held this post....It is indeed an interesting development and we all hope that she would give Germany the leadership that the country need now.... Once Great Britain had a lady leader in Margaret Thatcher,...the Iron Lady they call her, who lead her country to a new height...Could we expect leaders such as Hillary Clinton or Condoleezza Rice to be the next President of the United State!!...Well anythings are possible now that those ladies that was given the leadership role in the past, like in the states of Israel, Great Britain and now Germany have pave the way for women to play a more pivotal role in the country political leadership.... They have shown that they are as capable as their male counterpart in the leadership role of a country... Well America.. Would we see a lady as the next president of the USA.?....

Politic, the arts of the possible...

They say that politic is the arts of the possible...As a person who have been somewhat involved in the politic of the country, to me, the event that is happening in Israel today is another of that possibility...The resignation of Sharon from the Likud Party that He found and than forming a new party to continue on his political life...What a strategic...I believe that Ariel Sharon had took a calculated risk and because of the present political environment in Israel now, I believe He could win with a much bigger support in the next election, come February or March 2006.... For us who have been watching the development of peace in the middle east and hope for a lasting peace, I think He still has a lot to do in order to get the peace process with the Palestinian going...It is not going to be an easy task but I believe that these new development would go a long way in bringing peace to these trouble area....As usual the Middle east had been a place of many surprises!!...So here we goes again...And I hope that in not too distance future, there would be real peace in the Middle east and that the state of Palestine would be realized. With that there would be real peace to this historical area of our world...Let us all pray for peace and hope that the year 2006 would be a year of Peace in these area of our world...

Interesting blog...

As I surf I found that cyberspace is becoming more and more interesting and with the birth of blogging the journey became not only interesting but knowledgeable as well..The are many great blogs out there that worth a visit from time to time and here is one of my favorite... Do find the time to visit it... A sweet, familiar Dissonance.....Like me I am sure you would enjoy reading the postings....Have a nice day

A thought provocative article...

This is a thought provocative article by Suhaini Aznan -the Star/ANN..As it appear in e.sinchew-i.com.... ...Thin Line Between honor And Terror...I believe all of us have been raised up to be Good always and never ever to think of doing otherwise..... Remember that evils comes in many forms but we all know too well that Good always prevail over Evils...So let us do our bits in making this world of ours a better place to live and enjoy life, for us now and for the future generations..

Halwa Muskat..Sweet cake...

I have often said that Malaysia is fortunate to be a Multi cultural country... With that we have inherited many varieties of foods, cakes and cookies... And as the country became more sophisticated and the society became more knowledgeable... More and more foods are being put on the table as years goes on... Come the various festivals then we see more and more cakes and cookies appear, some are new but the traditional one still stay...One of our favorite is the Sweet cake that we call the Halwa Muskat, which I believed originated from the Middle East.... When my dad was running a restaurant, he would make the Halwa Muskat for sale during the Ramadan and now our family try to keep that tradition alive by doing the same either on the Hari Raya Haji [ Eid Adha ] or the Hari Raya Puasa [ Eid Mubarak ]...The ingredients are simple... It is made with ordinary white flour, ghee, Sugar, Vegetable Oil and some cuts cashews nuts.. But making this Halwa is not that easy..., it actually need patience and lots of labor...For it had to be cook slowly with slow fire using a solid bronze/copper pan...If the fire is too strong it would not turn alright...And in doing the cooking of this special Halwa..Patience is the essence of creating a perfect and nourishing Halwa Muskat...So it would be advisable to do it for the Eid Adha festival, for before this festival we do not have to fast unlike the Eid Mubarak.. After experiencing the making of this special for so many years, we learn through experiences that we could do it much early before the festival and than freeze it in the freezer and when the time of the festival comes...Just thawed it and re cook it like before and...Voila you get a great Halwa Muskat, fresh and tasty as usual.. In much shorter time...I love this special and it is on the table come the festival time...So friends as the saying goes, "God gave us brain so that we may have roses in Winter", It is indeed true...In this case in a way we could have this Halwa in mere instance.... Have a nice day...

Worth a visit...

Some years ago on surfing the internet, I found a site that is thoughts provoking and full of wisdom...As I journey on and visiting it several times, I found the contents has indeed enriched my life...So I decided to link it to my site, so that it gets a wider audiences...The the site is this reata.org...Do take the time to visit it and I am sure, like me you would be enlightens by the contents...Have a nice day.

Of Jobs and the Malay graduates...

Just a few days ago there were report of some sixty thousand Malay mostly woman graduates could not find jobs...It is an irony that in a country where there are full employment and some one million foreign workers working in this country that our graduates from the local universities could not find jobs in their own country....From the report it says one of the reason is that these graduates do not have the command of the English language, less self confidence then their counter part who graduated from foreign universities. Time and again it has been told that Malaysian youth must master the English Language but it look like it just left on deaf ears...I believe it is the responsibilities of the Local Universities to see that the product of their institution are of excellent quality and geared to the needs of the Market... At the same time the Malay community especially the young must take upon themselves to master the English language which would make them marketable...Why this is still happening I just could not comprehend...The report in the local newspaper .....The Malay community must take upon themselves to solved these problem that keep happening from years to years....A change in mind set would solved these problems and at the same time not to be over dependence on the government...It is only with a new mind set could the Malay community succeed like the other Malaysian do...The previous Prime Minister, Dr.Mahathir Mohd say that he had not been successful in changing the mind set of the Malay..He was the leader for the last twenty two years and He admit that He had failed, Why is it so...And now the new Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is still saying the same thing and I hope this time He would be successful...But I doubt it would happen if the Malay did not wake up to the reality of today's world..Their culture must change with time..They must accept the global culture like the other Malaysian do...In another word they must change their mind set...Like acquiring more knowledge, master the English language as well the most important Asian language, Mandarin...They should talk less about religion but instead practice more and more of the good value that their religion teaches..The world is getting global and any race that do not follow or get into the global culture, would be left behind...I would suggest that the Malay should continue to accumulate knowledge, open their mind as wide as possible, for this they should travel overseas and to as many countries as possible and read as much books in English and Mandarin or other languages...Another media that they should accept as their culture is the Internet, they must get use to the internet, where information are endless, for their future depend on themselves alone, not on the government spoon feeding them or other people, they have to help themselves ...The Chinese saying ' give a man a fish and he would live for a day, but teach him to fish, he would be able to fend for himself forever' So fellow friends, please do learn to fish...This is the only way toward success....

Keeping the tradition alive...

Tradition dies hard so they say but with globalization it would soon die if we all are not careful... So in our family like all other Malay families we tried hard to keep some of the tradition alive, like the wearing of the traditional Malay dress and the preparation some of our traditional foods so that it would be there forever, come Hari Raya day... Take the case of the Ketupat and Rendang..It would not be Hari Raya in the Malay world without these two traditional foods, that only the Malay know how to do it best, perfect and well... To me personally the Ketupat and Rendang should be there on the table come Hari Raya...For without it the real atmosphere of a perfect Malay Hari Raya would be a great miss...So what is so great about this Ketupat and Rendang....Well the Ketupat is special because it is simply an authentic Malay food...It is actually rice cook in a container made of coconut Leave intricately woven into a small box like container and then rice is put inside it and boiled until it is cook solid with a soft texture of its own...It is then cut into cubes. Because it is cooked in containers made of coconut leaf, it retained the taste and aroma of the leaf, thus it peculiar smell and taste, that could not be got when the same is boiled using plastic container...As for the Rendang..It is an original of the Malay for it is cook entirely with various herbs and coconut milks...Except for the chilly no spices are use, although it look spicy....It actually do not contain any spices at all..Thus when well done it has a taste of its own and an aroma that comes only with the Rendang...It is done either with Chicken, Beef or Mutton and if it is well done, it would stay fresh for days without refrigeration... The Ketupat is then eaten with the Rendang, thus the saying "Ketupat and Rendang"....To me these two are a must for the Hari Raya spread... It surely would not be a perfect Hari Raya or Eid Mubarak in the Malay world without these traditional special....

Eid Mubarak... Selamat Hari Raya..

Today Malaysian Moslem celebrate the Aidil Fitri and it is the same with Moslem all the world....May everyone have peace and enjoy this auspicious day... To All I wish Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri or Eid Mubarak...Have a nice day...

Selamat Hari Raya - Happy Aidil Fitri...

Happy Aidil Fitri to all...May we all have a great time...It has been a wonderful year and I hope that it would continue to be so in the years to come...The greeting card below is what our grandchild, little Adibah did specially for us....It is simple thing like this that makes lives so wonderful...

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This year EiD Mubarak came just two days after the Hindu festival of Dewali, which Malaysian also celebrate...In a multi racial, multi religious and multi languages country like Malaysia events like this are indeed a welcome coincidence.. For such great festivals that comes so close gave us Malaysian a great opportunity to celebrate it together, in the spirit of the festival itself...Peace and prosperity for all... To all Malaysian my wishes are that do take great care of the country...We are fortunate to be living in a peaceful and prosperous country where the wealth are shared by all...As the economic cake grew we shall together enjoy the added prosperity, thus enhance our quality of life...Malaysia is just forty eight years and a young country indeed...We had never had this good with the country enjoying full employment and everyone having a great time living in a prosperous and peaceful country...As a person who had live during the colonial era, the period of war, the Japanese occupation, the time of Emergency during the communist terrorist insurgent and then to the early days of independence...I know for sure that we have achieved much during that short period of our independence...Malaysian have never had these good... So continue to work hard and smart in the spirit of Malaysia Boleh Malaysian can do it ...so that the country would continue to be more prosperous, thus we would be able to enjoy a higher quality of lives and continue to enjoy life...... Once again Happy Dewali and Selamat Hari Raya to all,..Enjoy and Have a nice day.

Happy Dewali....

Happy Dewali to all Hindu, May we all prosper and continue to have a good life...Have a great Dewali....